You asked for it…

Here is my paleo version of Greek moussaka. I have to admit…I have never tried real moussaka before. I asked my readers for some of their favorite dishes they would like to see “paleo-ized” and a few requested moussaka. So I spent a couple days looking over Traditional Greek Moussaka recipes, and came up with this. I took out some ingredients and added a few. I have nothing to compare it to, but I hope you find this fills your cravings. I found it to be very creamy and bursting with flavor. I love eggplant and meat sauce. The creamy top just made it incredible. I was nervous about using almond milk for the bechamel sauce, as traditional recipes call for full fat milk. I did not want to use coconut milk as I did not think the flavor of coconut would marry well with this recipe. I was pleasantly surprised! This will be a new regular for me!

 

Ingredients for Base:

(1) large eggplant thinly sliced

(3) TBS grassfed ghee or coconut oil divided

(1) pound grassfed ground beef

(1) small onion chopped

(3) cloves garlic minsed

(3) TBS organic tomato paste (I used Muir Glenn)

3/4 cup water

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste

 

Directions for Base:

oven to 350 degrees

1. Thinly slice the eggplant and sprinkle each slice with pink salt. Place them on towels and let them “sweat” out the moisture for about 30 minutes.

2. While eggplant slices are enjoying their hot yoga sweat routine, brown up the ground beef in (1) TBS ghee or coconut oil with the onion, garlic, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Once browned add the tomato paste and water. Mix well and simmer until thick and bubbly.

3. While meat is simmering, brown the eggplant on each side in (2) TBS ghee or coconut oil over med high heat.

4. Lay the eggplant covering the bottom of a casserole dish like so:

 

5.Place a layer of the meat mixture over the eggplant, then do one more layer of each:

 

Ingredients for the creamy layer (aka bechamel sauce) :

(2) TBS ghee or coconut oil

(1) TBS arrowroot powder

1 1/2 cups of almond milk

1 pinch nutmeg

pink salt and white pepper to taste

 

Directions for Bechamel Sauce:

1.  Create a roux with the ghee and arrowroot. In a small sauce pan over med heat mix the ghee or coconut oil with the arrowroot until thickened. Pour in the almond milk and whisk until thick and bubbly. Mix in the nutmeg, pink salt, and white pepper to taste.

2. Pour sauce over the base layer:

 

 

3. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for one hour.

4. Let is set for about 20 minutes before serving.

 

Enjoy!